The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Friday, September 23, 2016

'Lay down your arms - the war against Israel at the United nations has ended.' Prime Minister invites Abbas to address Israeli Knesset.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the United
Nations General Assembly in Manhattan on Thursday, minutes after
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke at the international
body, accusing Israel of “executing” Arabs and undermining the peace
process.

“What I’m about to say will shock you,” said Netanyahu, “Israel has a bright future in the UN.”While offering this optimistic appraisal of Israel’s future in the
United Nations, the Prime Minister also noted a litany of biases in the
international body against the Jewish state.

"Now, I know that hearing that from me must surely come as a
surprise, because year after year I've stood at this very podium and
slammed the UN for its obsessive bias against Israel. And the UN
deserved every scathing word. For the disgrace of the General Assembly,
that last year passed 20 resolutions against the democratic State of
Israel, and a grand total of three resolutions against all the other
countries on the planet. Israel: 20, rest of the world: 3.

And what about the joke of the UN Human Rights Council, which each
year condemns Israel more than all the countries of the world combined?
As women are being systematically raped, murdered, and sold into slavery
across the world, which is the only country that the UN's Commission
chose to condemn this year? Yep, you guessed it, Israel. Israel, where
women fly fighter jets, lead major corporations, head universities,
preside - twice - over the Supreme Court, and have served as Speaker of
the Knesset and Prime Mininster."

Nevertheless, Netanyahu emphasized that a change in the United
Nations’ behavior towards Israel was inevitable, and would come in the
near future.

"You probably think 'nothing will ever change, right?' Well think
again. Everything will change, and a lot sooner than you think. The
change will happen in this hall because back home your governments are
rapidly changing their attitudes towards Israel. And sooner or later,
that's going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN."

“Lay down your arms - the war against Israel at the United nations has ended.”

Netanyahu also responded directly to claims made by Abbas just
minutes prior to his own address, in which the Palestinian Authority
leader accused Israel of “destroying” any chance for a peace agreement
through the expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

“This conflict is not about the settlements, it never was,” Netanyahu
said. “The issue of settlements is a real one, which must and can be
resolved in final status negotiations.”Arutz Sheva StaffSource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/218192 Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

One of the
loudest critics of the undercover surveillance was New Jersey governor
Chris Christie who, joined by then-Newark mayor Cory Booker, called the program
“disturbing” and “deeply offensive.”

In a recent column,
Bret Stephens recognized that one of the lessons from this past
weekend’s terror attacks is that “there is [a]… benefit in the
surveillance methods that allowed police in New York and New Jersey to
swiftly identify and arrest Mr. Rahimi before his bombing spree took any
lives.” A Wall Street Journal editorial
that same day noted that “Since 9/11… the NYPD has made great progress
in being able to track down terror suspects.” And while the New York and
New Jersey police departments deserve high praise for their handling of
these attacks and quick apprehension of those involved, I cannot help
but wonder if the injuries to its 29 victims could have been prevented.

In the years following 9/11, the NYPD, under the leadership of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, organized the Demographic Unit,
a creation of CIA officer Lawrence Sanchez who established it in 2003
while working at the department. The unit was designed as a surveillance
program in which undercover officers infiltrated New York and New
Jersey Muslim-owned businesses, mosques, and Islamic schools in order to
detect terror threats before they were executed. According to a New York Times article:

The
goal was to identify the mundane locations where a would-be terrorist
could blend into society. Plainclothes detectives looked for “hot spots”
of radicalization that might give the police an early warning about
terrorist plots. The squad, which typically consisted of about a dozen
members, focused on 28 “ancestries of interest.”

Unfortunately,
the program was discovered in 2009 and under public pressure from local
Muslim communities as well as legal challenges to the program, Kelly’s
successor, William Bratton, ultimately closed down the unit. One of the
loudest critics of the undercover surveillance was New Jersey governor
Chris Christie who, joined by then-Newark mayor Cory Booker, called the program
“disturbing” and “deeply offensive.” Christie took issue with the fact
that, notwithstanding the Newark police department’s involvement with
the program, neither he nor the feds were informed. In 2012 Christie stated,
"I know they think that their jurisdiction is the world. Their
jurisdiction is New York City. My concern is this kind of affectation
that the NYPD seems to have that they are the masters of the universe."

Christie also reportedly approached Attorney General Eric Holder with his concerns. However, after a three-month investigation,
New Jersey attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa “concluded there was no
evidence to show the NYPD’s activities in the state violated New
Jersey’s civil or criminal laws.” Nonetheless, within several months of
that finding, the NYPD caved to pressure and pulled out of New Jersey
and by 2014, much to the delight of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio,
the program was shuttered completely.

One
has to wonder what universe Christie is living in in which he believes
that terrorists abide by geographic and law enforcement jurisdictional
lines. When this story broke, the Associate Press reported that the NYPD
was also secretly monitoring the activities of campus Muslim student
groups at over a dozen colleges in the Northeast. While not exactly the
politically correct thing to do (as we all know from the degrading
treatment every American receives going through TSA lines), PC behavior
is not going to save us from radical Islam. An honest discussion about
the indoctrination that occurs within local Muslim communities, and most
especially their mosques, is warranted and necessary rather than the
indefensible focus on offending a demographic that is taking no outward
steps to help prevent terrorism.

Not
surprisingly, the president of the American Arab Forum, expressed his
disappointed in the AG’s conclusions about the legality of the NYPD
program by saying, "We thought the AG was on our side.” Unfortunately,
we should all be on the same side -- the side that fights terrorism --
but instead Christie seems to be on the wrong side of this war. Further
evidence of that was seen when Christie, unsatisfied with the NYPD
pulling out of his state, subsequently signed into law a bill that
provides that out-of-state law enforcement must notify New Jersey
officials before conducting counter-terrorism operations in that state. Christie stated:

As
a former U.S. Attorney appointed in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, I
strongly believe we need to do everything in our power to prevent
terrorist attacks on our country and keep our people safe. I also
believe we must protect and maintain civil liberties, especially those
of the citizens in New Jersey’s Muslim community.

So
while Christie is busy protecting the civil rights of New Jersey’s
Muslim community, one of those members planted bombs, not just in his
state but in New York City, where 29 victims were lucky to survive the
explosion. Thank you, Governor Christie.

In the face of a possible Romney/Christie ticket in 2012, terrorism experts, Daniel Pipes and Steve Emerson, documented what they called Christie’s “Islam problem.” In addition to his stance regarding the Demographic Unit, their evidence included the following:

2008:
When serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie embraced and
kissed Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County,
and praised him as “a man of great goodwill.” He did this after Qatanani
had publicly ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a
U.S. government-designated terror organization, and on the eve of his
deportation hearing for not hiding an Israeli conviction for membership
in Hamas. In addition, Christie designated a top aide… to testify as a
character witness for Qatanani…

2010: After Derek Fenton burned three pages of a Koran at a 9/11
memorial ceremony, his employer, New Jersey Transit, got Christie’s
approval to fire him. Protecting Islam at the expense of the
constitutional right to free speech, Christie endorsed Fenton’s
termination: “That kind of intolerance is something I think is
unacceptable. So I don’t have any problem with him being fired.”

2011: Christie appointed an Islamist, Sohail Mohammed, to the New Jersey
state superior court. Mohammed’s record includes serving as general
counsel to the American Muslim Union (which has stated that a “Zionist
Commando Orchestrated The 9-11 Terrorist Attacks”), acting as spokesman
for Muslim prisoners who went on a hunger strike after being jailed
during Ramadan, defending Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami
Al-Arian (his indictment, Mohammed said, was “nothing but a
witch-hunt”), and helping Qatanani’s legal defense…

Pipes and Emerson summarized:

In
short, Christie has hugged a terrorist-organization member, abridged
free-speech rights, scorned concern over Islamization, and opposed
law-enforcement counterterrorism efforts. Whenever an issue touching on
Islam arises, Christie takes the Islamist side against those -- the DHS,
state senators, the NYPD, even the ACLU -- who worry about lawful
Islamism eroding the fabric of American life.

Since
failing to win the Republican nomination, Christie has figured out
another way to further his political future and perhaps carry his Islam
problem to the White House. He has joined himself at the hip with Donald
Trump and endeared himself to the point of a huge reward. Trump has
named Christie chair of his transition team -- a powerful and
influential position if Trump wins the election. This poses a
potentially serious national security issue that must be raised in the
debates and by reporters covering the Trump campaign. How can Trump
justify elevating the man whose policies arguably abetted the most
recent terrorist attacks to such an important position and what on-going
role will Christie have in a future Trump administration? What is
Trump’s position on surveillance programs that involve undercover agents
monitoring Muslim communities from which these terrorist attacks
emanate? The king of anti-PC should feel comfortable answering these
questions honestly and if he does, Christie should be fired immediately.

Christie’s
legacy will not be Bridgegate and the dangerous situation in which his
administration placed tristate residents with their politically
motivated lane closures on the GW Bridge. With each new act of
terrorism, many of us will be wondering if it could have been prevented
had Christie taken the right stand and supported the efforts of the
NYPD’s counterterrorism program. But one thing is clear, Christie’s
Islam problem should not be permitted to move from New Jersey’s to DC
where the entire country’s national security will be at risk. As Pipes
and Emerson concluded, “Whatever his reasons, we conclude that Chris
Christie lacks the moral compass and integrity needed to serve as vice
president of the United States.” Trump needs to rethink his alliance
with a man with an Islam problem.

Lauri B. ReganSource: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/09/did_christies_islam_problem_lead_to_the_ahmad_terrorist_attacks.html Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

The
key is to import millions of Democrat voters from groups that reliably
offer 90%+ support to the left and its promises of free stuff

The
left is making a bet that its vote fraud efforts can be disguised from
the public long enough to win this election, and then open the
floodgates to ensure they permanently rule America (and complete the
fundamental transformation Obama promised). There is every reason to
fear massive vote fraud targeted at ensuring a faltering Hillary Clinton
takes the election.

The
key is to import millions of Democrat voters from groups that reliably
offer 90%+ support to the left and its promises of free stuff. With
Hillary in Oval Office and controlling the bureaucracy, citizenship can
be accelerated. But as shocking studies show, noncitizens are already
voting in large numbers and affecting elections. Fred Lucas reports at
the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal:

The
Obama administration opposes states verifying citizenship status of
registered voters. Inquiries into voter fraud are typically met with
derision from both government and the media—and in at least one instance
with prosecution. Prosecutors don’t prioritize voter fraud, while
convictions only garner light sentences.These
are among the voter fraud problems facing the United States, experts
noted this week, even as prominent voices on the left say such fraud is a
myth.The left’s opposition to voter integrity laws or even inquiry can be simply explained, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.“Why on earth would you not want to make sure that only citizens are registered and voting?” Fitton, author of “Clean House: Exposing Our Government’s Secrets and Lies,”
said at a forum at The Heritage Foundation Tuesday. “That to me shows
that the Obama administration and the left generally, which is behind
this, wants to be able to steal elections if necessary. To me, that’s a
crisis.”A 2014 study by Old Dominion University
found that 6.4 percent of all noncitizens voted in the 2008 election
and 2.2 percent voted in the 2010 midterm elections. The study concludes
this likely put Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, a Democrat, over the top in
the race in his 312-vote statewide victory over Republican Norm Coleman
in 2008.

[If Franken had lost, Obamacare would not have been passed – ed.]

Fitton said this is approaching 15 percent of all noncitizens voting.In the past, opponents have argued that ID requirements hurt minority participation. Meanwhile, studies have found minority voting has increased after voter ID was implemented.

So we are being sold two frauds. That fraud is a tiny problem, and that only citizens can vote.

As
study after study has shown, there is virtually no voter fraud anywhere
in the country. The most comprehensive investigation to date found that
out of one billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000
and 2014, there were 31 possible cases of impersonation fraud. Other
violations—like absentee ballot fraud, multiple voting and registration
fraud—are also exceedingly rare. So why do so many people continue to
believe this falsehood?

Credit
for this mass deception goes to Republican lawmakers, who have for
years pushed a fake story about voter fraud, and thus the necessity of
voter ID laws, in an effort to reduce voting among specific groups of
Democratic-leaning voters.

Democrats know that the best defense is a good offense. That’s why in an effort to distract:

Rep.
John Lewis, a pioneer in the civil rights movement, wants the Obama
administration to appoint observers for the November election in certain
states."We
should ask for federal protection," the Georgia Democrat said
Wednesday, warning "the election can be stolen on election day at
polling places."

With
(now-discredited by her private jet secret meeting with Bill Clinton)
Loretta Lynch in charge of the DOJ, the feds cannot be counted upon to
bust the fraud. This is classic misdirection.

Thomas LifsonSource: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/09/vote_fraud_and_the_future_of_the_republic.html Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Suicide is not an act of compassion.

The United States is at war with international terrorists, who, as the 9/11 Commission noted, must first enter the United States in order to attack it.

Consider the preface of the official government report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel: Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States” that begins with the following paragraph:

It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.

Furthermore, although much has been made of the lack of integrity with respect to the U.S./Mexican border, the 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel observed that most terrorists had entered the United States through international airports and then committed visa fraud and immigration benefit fraud to embed themselves in the country.

Page 54 of the report contained this excerpt under the title “3.2 Terrorist Travel Tactics by Plot,” which makes these issues crystal clear:

Although there is evidence that some land and sea border entries (of terrorists) without inspection occurred, these conspirators mainly subverted the legal entry system by entering at airports.

In doing so, they relied on a wide variety of fraudulent documents, on aliases, and on government corruption. Because terrorist operations were not suicide missions in the early to mid-1990s, once in the United States terrorists and their supporters tried to get legal immigration status that would permit them to remain here, primarily by committing serial, or repeated, immigration fraud, by claiming political asylum, and by marrying Americans. Many of these tactics would remain largely unchanged and undetected throughout the 1990s and up to the 9/11 attack.

Thus, abuse of the immigration system and a lack of interior immigration enforcement were unwittingly working together to support terrorist activity. It would remain largely unknown, since no agency of the United States government analyzed terrorist travel patterns until after 9/11. This lack of attention meant that critical opportunities to disrupt terrorist travel and, therefore, deadly terrorist operations were missed.

On Saturday September 17, 2016 terror attacks put international terrorism and immigration on the front page of newspapers across the United States and onto the “A Block” of television news programs.

On the morning of that last Saturday of summer, a bomb hidden in a garbage can detonated along the route of the “Seaside Semper Five,” a five-kilometer run and charity event along the South Jersey Shore waterfront to raise money for members of the United States Marine Corps and their families. Fortunately, because the crowds were much greater than expected, the event was late in starting and so no one was injured.

On that Saturday evening, a bomb, constructed in part of a pressure-cooker, exploded in a dumpster in the Chelsea section of Manhattan where it had apparently been planted. Shortly after the explosion rocked that trendy neighborhood of Manhattan a second bomb of similar construction was discovered just blocks away.

Both of these bombings and that third, unexploded bomb have been attributed to Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized United States citizen who legally immigrated to the United States from his native Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, on that same Saturday evening, in Minnesota, allegedly Dahir Adan, an immigrant from Kenya, went on a violent rampage in the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, stabbing 9 innocent people. His rampage ended when a police officer, Jason Falconer, confronted him. Adan lunged at Officer Falconer who fired in self-defense, undoubtedly preventing a far worse attack.

According to an article published on September 19, 2016 in a local newspaper, the Star Tribune, during the attack Adan was wearing a security guard uniform and asked at least one of the victims if he was a Muslim. Additionally, Adan was reported to have referred to Allah during the attack.

News reports assert he was 22 years old and beginning his third year at St. Cloud State University and was a member of the tight-knit Somalian immigrant community.

Information about the identity of this apparent terrorist was not provided by law enforcement authorities, but by his father who claimed that his son came to the United States some 15 years ago.

Aliens who enter the United States surreptitiously without inspection could be said to have entered the United States through America's “back door.” Most terrorists, however, enter the United States through America's front doors located at the 325 ports of entry that are operated by CBP (Customs and Border Protection).

Both Ahmad Khan Rahami and Dahir Adan were admitted into the United States through America's “front door.”

Given the severity of the threats America and Americans face and the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission it is incomprehensible that the failures of the lawful entry system and the systems by which applications for lawful status are adjudicated would face extreme scrutiny with the goal of insuring that these systems have real integrity. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Politicians from both political parties have repeatedly called for providing lawful status for unknown millions of illegal aliens whose true identities, backgrounds and possible affiliations with criminal or terrorist organizations are unknown and unknowable. There would be no way to interview millions of such aliens and certainly no way to conduct any field investigations. This would create an open invitation to massive levels of fraud.

Should any doubt remain about the abject lack of integrity in the adjudications process, consider that on September 19, 2016 Fox News reported, “Watchdog: Feds wrongly granted citizenship to hundreds facing deportation” that focused on the findings of the Office of Inspector General for the DHS concerning how hundreds of aliens facing removal deportation had, instead, been granted United States citizenship. These aliens were originally from countries identified as being “Special Interest Countries”- that is to say that these countries are associated with terrorism.

The report noted that of those who were able to game the naturalization process, some went on to acquire jobs, including in law enforcement where U.S. citizenship is a pre-requisite.

The FBI is greatly concerned about this individual who is charged with providing material support and resources to al Qaeda and al Shabaab, a Somali-based terrorist organization. Additionally, he had worked as a cab driver in Washington, DC and has an intimate knowledge of DC's infrastructure and government buildings.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to admit Syrian refugees who, according to FBI Director, James Comey, cannot be vetted. Hillary Clinton wants to increase the number of such refugees admitted into the United States by more than 500%.

Clinton wants to provide unknown millions of illegal aliens with lawful status which would require that USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to adjudicate all of these applications.

USCIS is the division of the DHS that is charged with adjudicating all of those applications for various immigration benefits including granting political asylum and conferring United States citizenship upon aliens. This is the very same inept and and incompetent agency that naturalized hundreds of deportable aliens.

Repeatedly Hillary and her open borders / anarchist accomplices have invoked the issue of “compassion” to justify admitting huge numbers of refugees who cannot be vetted and providing illegal aliens who entered the United States covertly with lawful status, even though there would be no way to verify their identities, backgrounds, affiliations with criminal or terrorist organizations or even determine when they actually entered the United States.

Terrorists have come to see in our compassion vulnerabilities they can exploit and use against us.

The report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel - Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.” included this paragraph:

“Once terrorists had entered the United States, their next challenge was to find a way to remain here. Their primary method was immigration fraud. For example, Yousef and Ajaj concocted bogus political asylum stories when they arrived in the United States. Mahmoud Abouhalima, involved in both the World Trade Center and landmarks plots, received temporary residence under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAW) program, after falsely claiming that he picked beans in Florida.” Mohammed Salameh, who rented the truck used in the bombing, overstayed his tourist visa. He then applied for permanent residency under the agricultural workers program, but was rejected. Eyad Mahmoud Ismail, who drove the van containing the bomb, took English-language classes at Wichita State University in Kansas on a student visa; after he dropped out, he remained in the United States out of status.

It is time for our government to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws and disarm the terrorists who would kill our citizens and destroy our nation by depriving them the opportunities to enter the United States and embed themselves throughout our country.

Michael Cutler is a retired Senior Special Agent of the former INS (Immigration and
Naturalization Service) whose career spanned some 30 years. He served as
an Immigration Inspector, Immigration Adjudications Officer and spent
26 years as an agent who rotated through all of the squads within the
Investigations Branch. For half of his career he was assigned to the
Drug Task Force. He has testified before well over a dozen congressional
hearings, provided testimony to the 9/11 Commission as well as state
legislative hearings around the United States and at trials where
immigration is at issue. He hosts his radio show, “The Michael Cutler Hour,” on Friday evenings on BlogTalk Radio. His personal website is http://michaelcutler.net/.Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264252/weaponized-immigration-michael-cutler Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

An outrageous attack on the Jewish state before the world’s greatest purveyors of anti-Semitism.

Obama’s last address before the UN General Assembly was
typically and predictably condescending, hypocritical, disingenuous and
vainglorious. He used the opportunity to perform some electioneering and
take a swipe at Donald Trump. “Today, a nation ringed by walls would
only imprison itself,” he said in a not too subtle reference to Trump’s
promised plans to secure the southern border with the construction of a
wall and restrict immigration from high-risk countries.

France, a NATO ally that has partnered with the U.S. to combat the
Taliban in Afghanistan and Islamic extremism in Mali, was also derided.
Though he did not mention France by name, he criticized “liberal
societies” for their “opposition to women who choose to cover
themselves.” This of course was a veiled reference French laws banning
Burkas and Burkinis, items of Islamic clothing that are oppressive to
and denigrate women.

Of course, Obama made no mention of the Paris and Nice massacres. Nor did he note that as a result of Muslim violence, 70 percent
of Europe’s Jews won’t be attending synagogue during the Jewish
High-Holy Days. Obama did of course heap praise on Indonesia, a Muslim
nation that discriminates against minorities and the LGBT community,
still maintains so-called “blasphemy” laws, and imposes draconian Sharia law in some districts. This year, a 60-year old Christian-Indonesian woman was given 28 lashes for selling alcohol. This is the model nation that the president touts before the world community.

The vainglorious president also took the opportunity to tout his
disastrous Iran deal, noting that the United States “resolved the
Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.” Obama, however, failed to note
that he inked the worst deal in U.S. diplomatic history and likely the
worst deal since the 1938 Munich Accord. He also omitted the fact that
the infusion of $150 billion into Iran’s anemic economy will enable the
mullahs to continue to sow misery throughout the region.

Of course, no Obama speech would be complete without the perfunctory assault
on Israel. What better place to attack the Jewish state than before a
body that is today’s greatest purveyor of anti-Semitism, where
anti-Israel invective flows like water and where the Jewish state is
incessantly vilified?

Recognizing of course that referring to Jews as “apes and pigs”
is a national Palestinian pastime, Obama reminded the Palestinians to
play nicely before directing his invective against Israel.

“Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians
reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel
recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian
land,” he said.

There are two egregious problems with Obama’s
statement. First, it is insufficient for the Palestinian Authority to
merely “recognize the legitimacy of Israel.”

Israel has made
clear that the PA must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The PA has
rejected this demand outright because they envision a future Palestinian
state, exclusively for Palestinians, in Judea/Samaria and an entity
that calls itself “Israel” composed of Jews as well as Palestinian
Muslims, thereby negating the Jewish character of the state.

That represents the crux of the problem. Palestinian Muslims will
never recognize the indigenousness of Jews in their ancestral land [sic]. Any
peace agreement without such recognition is inherently flawed and sets
the stage for more bloody conflict. In terms of strategy, there is
absolutely no difference between the PA and Hamas. Both aspire to the
ultimate goal of establishing a Muslim Arab state from the River to the
Sea. The only difference is tactics. The PA has adopted a more practical
and deceitful approach toward achieving their ultimate objective
(though every once in a while they slip and reveal their true colors) while Hamas is frighteningly and brutishly honest.

The second problem is that Judea and Samaria is neither “occupied” nor
is it “Palestinian land.” It is a territory that is the subject of a bonafide dispute between two parties with competing claims.

From a legal perspective, Israel’s claim has more merit. In 1947, the
UN General Assembly voted to partition Israel/Palestine into separate
Jewish and Arab states. General Assembly resolutions have no binding
legal authority. The Jews accepted partition, but the Arabs rejected it.
Had they accepted it, the matter would have been settled and an
agreement would have validated the GA resolution and made it legally
binding under international law.

During the War of 1948 that
followed, Jordan seized Judea and Samaria as well as the eastern portion
of Jerusalem and annexed these territories. Only Pakistan fully
recognized Jordan’s illegal annexation, while England’s recognition was
limited to Judea and Samaria. The territory was occupied by Jordan for
19 years and during those 19 years, Jewish institutions were reduced to
rubble while Jewish headstones in the Mount of Olives cemetery were used
to build latrines for the Jordanian army.

In June 1967,
Jordan’s monarch, fed on a steady diet of fantasy-like falsehoods of
Israel’s impending demise, attacked Israel with Hawker Hunter jets and
artillery. Israel responded to the provocation and liberated Jerusalem
as well as Judea and Samaria in a matter of days.

The UN
considers war and conquests therefrom to be illegal, but Article 52 of
the UN Charter provides an exception to the illegality of war in cases
involving self-defense. The Six-Day War was as clear as they come in
terms of self-defense. Israel acquired these lands through defensive
conquest. Never in the history of mankind has a nation been compelled to
return territories -- acquired in the course of a defensive war -- to
an aggressor entity.

Following the war and after many month of
haggling, the UN Security Council, which has the power to establish
international law, passed Resolution 242. The resolution called upon
Israel to withdraw from “territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
Notably, the word “all” was deliberately omitted thus giving implicit
recognition to Israeli territorial conquests. One can reasonably argue
that Israel has fully complied with Resolution 242 by virtue of its
withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, some 40 percent of Judea and
Samaria and Quneitra on the Golan Heights, and that no further
territorial withdrawals are required.

I would be remiss if I
didn’t note that two Jewish commonwealths existed on territories now
claimed as “occupied” hundreds of years before Mohammedan colonizers set
foot on the land. It would be more precise to refer to the territories
as “re-occupied,” in deference to the indigenous inhabitants of the
land.

Obama likely knows all this but couldn’t resist taking a
parting shot at Israel. That he would choose to do it in a forum that
is infamous for its anti-Semitic vitriol speaks volumes of the man.

Ari Lieberman is an attorney and former prosecutor who has authored numerous articles
and publications on matters concerning the Middle East and is considered
an authority on geo-political and military developments affecting the
region.Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264263/obamas-parting-shot-israel-ari-lieberman Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

While French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and US President Barack Obama
pushed for renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority during their visits to the United Nations this week, PA
President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party published new anti-Semitic
propaganda material, drawing upon classic anti-Jewish canards.

On Tuesday, just one day after Ayrault held a closed-door meeting
with foreign dignitaries in an effort to reboot final status talks
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Fatah’s published a
cartoon suggesting that Jews were secretly behind global terrorism and
international military conflicts, the Palestinian Media Watch reported.

The cartoon shows a stereotypical Jewish caricature wearing a kippa
and sitting in a chair with a Star of David. The man can be seen
casually setting off explosions in a nearby town, using his remote
control.

Ironically, the image was published on Fatah’s official website just
hours before President Obama took to the podium at the UN, urging
“Palestinians [to] reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of
Israel.” Obama continued by saying that Israel ought to withdraw from
Judea and Samaria and enable the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch noted that another cartoon
published by Fatah made a similar implication, suggesting that Jews
were to blame for Islamic terrorism.

The cartoon showed another stereotypical Jewish figure, wearing an
armband with the Israeli flag, setting off a bomb containing two Muslim
men, one labelled Sunni, the other Shia, each of whom is setting off
their own explosives. The image draws upon classic anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories that Jews are secretly masterminding world events
and are responsible for international terrorism, wars, and other crises.

Anti-Semitic Fatah cartoon Palestinian Media Watch

David RosenbergSource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/218187 Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir hails two years since Operation Protective Edge in Gaza as quietest in decades • The IDF will "act swiftly and with the considerable might at our disposal" if another round of fighting unfolds, he warns Hamas.

GOC Southern Command Maj.
Gen. Eyal Zamir

|

Photo credit: Haim Hornstein

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir on
Wednesday addressed the security situation in his sector, hailing the
two years since Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip as the
quietest in decades, while warning that Hamas was preparing for the next
round of fighting.

Zamir spoke at a Kibbutz Movement gathering to
mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of 11 Negev communities,
which at the time greatly expanded the size of the area under Jewish
control during the British Mandate and greatly aided the Jewish
population's ability to hold on to the Negev Desert during the 1948 War
of Independence.

Discussing some of the security challenges
facing Southern Command, Zamir told the audience: "Over the past decade,
since the eviction of the Gush Katif communities and the IDF's
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, we have embarked on three operations [in
Gaza] against the terrorist organizations there, chief among them
Hamas.

"Relatively speaking, the two years since the
end of Operation Protective Edge have been the quietest in recent
decades. This period is being used to strengthen the Negev communities
and to absorb new families [to the area].

"Hamas sustained a severe blow during a
restrained Operation Protective Edge, but to our regret, instead of
caring for the civilian population in Gaza it has used this period to
renew its [military] strength and get ready for another conflict."

Zamir described Hamas as "an enemy with a
radical Islamist ideology that rejects Israel's right to exist," and
delivered a stern warning: "The IDF and Southern Command will not allow
the terrorist organizations in Gaza, Hamas in particular, to harm Israel
and its citizens. We will respond to every such attempt with the
appropriate force and in accordance with the situational assessment. We
have no intention of initiating [an operation], and as long as the quiet
is maintained -- both sides of the border will remain stable."

According to Zamir, "Alongside the desire and
hope of extending this period of calm, we will continue to provide a
response to the potential threats above ground and below it. Many
[military units and civilian organizations] are working together around
the Gaza Strip to provide security to the communities. In the event that
another round of fighting unfolds, we will act swiftly and with the
considerable force at our disposal.

"We will bolster our multi-layered defenses
and enhance our comprehensive offensive effort, combining massive fire
power and maneuverability, to ensure we meet the objectives we are
given. Responsibility for the harsh results that will befall Gaza will
be placed on Hamas. The integration between the military leadership and
local civilian leadership is the formula for the entire nation's
resolve. The key to coping with extreme situations is working together,"
Zamir said.

Reminiscing on the history of the country's
south, Zamir called the 11 points in the Negev plan "an operation of the
utmost importance that determined Israel's borders in the Negev. The
operation comprised these following values and principles: military
subterfuge, determination and adherence to the mission, personal
sacrifice, cooperation between different organizations and movements for
the sake of establishing a state for the Jewish people in the land of
Israel. These are values and principles that the IDF still uses."

Zamir added: "Under the partition plan, the
northern Negev would not have been part of the Jewish state. The [Jewish
leadership] understood it needed to influence the reality on the ground
with actions. The operation to establish a chain of communities altered
the demographic and geographical situation and for all intents and
purposes led to the annexation [of the Negev], which immensely aided in
the defense of the southern front during the War of Independence.

"The Zionist vision will be realized not through words
and speeches but through effecting practical change. When there is a
direction and a goal, good things can happen," he concluded.

Israel Hayom StaffSource: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=36629 Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Human rights, originally conceived of as an anti-discrimination
tool, became a Trojan horse, a tool manipulated by Islamists and others
to dismantle secularism, freedom of speech and freedom of religion in
European countries.

French politicians seem to
believe they are elected NOT to defend French people and the French
nation, but to impose a "human rights ideology" on society.

The rule of law is there to protect citizens from the arbitrary
actions of the State. When a group of French Muslims attacks the entire
way society is constructed, the rule of law now protects only the
perpetrators.

For Western leaders, "human rights" have become a kind of new
religion. Like a disease, the human rights ideology has proliferated in
all areas of life. The UN website shows a list of all the human rights
that are now institutionalized: they range from "adequate housing" to
"youth." At least 42 categories of human rights fields are determined,
each of which are split into two or three subcategories.

With what result? More than 140 countries (out of 193 UN members)
engage in torture. The number of authoritarian countries has increased.
Women remain a subordinate class in nearly all countries.

"Saudi Arabia ratified the treaty banning discrimination against
women in 2007, and yet by law subordinates women to men in all areas of
life. Child labour exists in countries that have ratified the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. Powerful western countries, including the
US, do business with grave human rights abusers." — Eric Posner,
professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

On August 13, the Administrative Court in Nice, France, validated
the decision of the Mayor of Cannes to prohibit wearing religious
clothing on the beaches of Cannes. By "religious clothing," the judge
clearly seemed to be pointing his finger at the burkini, a body-covering
bathing suit worn by many Muslim women.

These "Muslim textile affairs" reveal two types of jihad attacking
France: one hard, one soft. The hard jihad, internationally known,
consists of assassinating journalists of Charlie Hebdo (January
2015), Jewish people at the Hypercacher supermarket (January 2015) and
young people at the Bataclan Theater, restaurants and the Stade de
France (November 2015). The hard jihad also included stabbing two
policeman in Magnanville, a suburb of Paris, (June 2016); truck-ramming
to death 84 people in Nice on Bastille Day (July 14), and murdering a
priest in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, among other incidents.
The goal of hard jihad, led by ISIS, al-Qaeda, and others, is to impose
sharia by terror.

The soft jihad is different. It does not involve murdering people,
but its final goal is the same: to impose Islam on France by covering
the country in Islamic symbols -- veils, burqas, burkinis and so on --
at all levels of the society: in schools, universities, hospitals,
corporations, streets, beaches, swimming pools and public
transportation. By imposing the veil everywhere, soft Islamists seem to
want to kill secularism, which, since escaping the grip of the Catholic
Church, has become the French way of "living together."

Scenes
from the "hard jihad" against France; the November 2015 shootings in
Paris, in which 130 people were murdered by Islamists.

No one can understand secularism in France without a bit of history.

"Secularism is essential if we want the 'people' be defined on a political basis" wrote the French historian, Jacques Sapir.

"Religious allegiance, when it turns into fundamentalism,
is in conflict with the notion of sovereignty of the people. ... the
Nation and State in France were built historically by fighting feudalism
and the supranational ambition of the Pope and Christian religion. ...
Secularism is the tool to return to the private sphere all matters that
cannot be challenged comfortably .... Freedom for diversity among
individuals implies a consensus in the common public sphere. The
distinction between the public sphere and the private sphere is
fundamental for democracy to exist."

And this distinction is secularism.

The Problem Now is Political

French politicians seem to believe they are elected NOT to defend
French people and the French nation, but to impose a "human rights
ideology" on society. They also seem unable to understand the challenges
that common people in the streets are currently facing. They are also
unable or unwilling to defend the country against either hard or soft
jihad.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, for instance, said in a July 29 interview for Le Monde:

"We must focus on everything that is effective [to fight
Islamism], but there is a line that may not be crossed: the rule of law.
... My government will not be the one to create a Guantanamo,
French-style."

Only Yves Michaud, a French philosopher, dared to point out
that the rule of law is there to protect citizens from the arbitrary
actions of the State. When a group of French Muslims attacks the entire
way society is constructed, the rule of law now protects only the
perpetrators.

The same is true for French President François Hollande. After the
murder by two Islamists of the Father Jacques Hamel in
Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in July 2016, he said: "We must lead the war by all means in respect of the rule of law."

Elisabeth Levy, publisher of the French magazine, Causeur, wrote in response:

"We need to know: by all means? ... Or in respect
of the rule of law? What is this rule of law that authorizes a judge to
release an Islamist interested in waging jihad in Syria and, because he
could not go to Syria, was free while wearing an electronic bracelet, to
walk the streets to slit the throat of a priest?"

She concluded: "If we want to protect our liberties, it might be interesting to take some liberties with the rule of law."

The ideology of human rights is common to all European countries.
Because authorities in European countries act, speak and legislate on
the basis of human rights, they put themselves in a position of weakness
when they have to name, apprehend and fight an Islamist threat.

A 46-year-old Bosnian ISIS jihadi, considered extremely dangerous, was taken into custody
by the Malmö police. The terrorist immediately applied for asylum, the
Swedish Migration Agency stepped in, took over the case -- and prevented
him from being deported. Inspector Leif Fransson of the Border Police
told the local daily newspaper, HD/Sydsvenskan: "As soon as these
people throw out their trump card and say 'Asylum', the gates of heaven
open. Sweden has gotten a reputation as a safe haven for terrorists."

In Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a press
conference, at the end of July 2016, that her mission was not to defend
German people and German identity but "to fulfill humanitarian
obligations [towards migrants]." She added it was "our historic task... a
historic test in times of globalization."

For Western Leaders, Human Rights Has Become a New Religion

The human rights movement was born in 1948 with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
launched by Eleanor Roosevelt. For 70 years, nine major "core" human
rights treaties were written and ratified by the vast majority of
countries.

Like a disease, the "human rights ideology" has proliferated in all areas of life. The United Nations website
shows a list of all the human rights that are now institutionalized:
they range from "adequate housing" to "youth" and include "Food",
"Freedom of Religion and Belief", "HIV/AIDS", "Mercenaries",
"Migration", "Poverty", "Privacy", "Sexual orientation and gender
identity", "Situations", " Sustainable Development", "Water and
sanitation." At least 42 categories of human rights fields are
determined, each of which are split into two or three subcategories.

With what result? More than 140 countries (out of 193 countries that belong to the UN) engage in torture.
The number of authoritarian countries has increased: "105 countries
have seen a net decline in terms of freedom, and only 61 have
experienced a net improvement" reported
the NGO, Freedom House, in 2016. Women remain a subordinate class in
nearly all countries. Children continue to work in mines and factories
in many countries.

Professor Eric Posner of the University of Chicago Law School, writes:

"Saudi Arabia ratified the treaty banning discrimination
against women in 2007, and yet by law subordinates women to men in all
areas of life. Child labour exists in countries that have ratified the
Convention on the Rights of the Child: Uzbekistan, Tanzania and India,
for example. Powerful western countries, including the US, do business
with grave human rights abusers."

What is disturbing is not that the "religion" of
"anti-discrimination" has become a joke. What is disturbing is that
human rights, originally conceived of as an anti-discrimination tool,
became a Trojan horse, a tool manipulated by Islamists and others to
dismantle secularism, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion in
European countries. What is disturbing is that human rights and
anti-discrimination policies are dismantling nations, and placing States
in a position of incapacity -- or perhaps just unwillingness -- to name
Islamism as a problem and take measures against it.

The Religion of Human Rights as a Tool of Europe's Muslim Brotherhood

Jean-Louis Harouel, Professor of the History of Law at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, recently published a book entitled, Les Droits de l'homme contre le peuple (Humans Rights against the People). In an interview with Le Figaro, he said:

"Human rights, are what we call in France 'fundamental
rights'. They were introduced in the 70's. The great beneficiaries of
fundamental rights were foreigners. Islam took advantage of it to
install in France, in the name of human rights and under its protection,
Islamic civilization, mosques and minarets, the Islamic way of life,
halal food prescriptions, clothing and cultural behavior -- Islamic laws
even in violation of French law: religious marriage without civil
marriage, polygamy, unilateral divorce of wife by husband, etc."Through the assertion of identity, Islamists and mainly UOIF [Union
of Islamic Organizations of France -- the French branch of the Muslim
Brotherhood] exploited human rights to install their progressive control
on populations of Northern African descent, and coerce them to respect
the Islamic order. In particular, they do all that they can to prevent
young [Arab] people who are born in France from becoming French
citizens."

The human rights and anti-discrimination "religion" also gave Islam
and Islamists a comfortable position from which to declare war on France
and all other European countries. It seems whatever crime they are
committing today and will commit in the future, Muslims and Islamists
remain the victim. For example, just after the November 13 terrorist
attacks in France, in which more than 130 people were murdered by
Islamists at the Bataclan Theater, the Stade de France, cafés and
restaurants, Tariq Ramadan, an Islamist professor at Oxford University, tweeted:

"I am not Charlie, nor Paris: I am a warrant search suspect".

Ramadan meant that because of the emergency laws and because he was a
Muslim, he was an automatic suspect, an automatic victim of racism and
"Islamophobia."

In another example, just after the terrorist attack in Nice
on July 14, when an Islamist rammed a truck into a crowd celebrating
Bastille Day, killing at least 84 people, Abdelkader Sadouni, an imam in
Nice, told the Italian newspaper Il Giornale: "French secularism is the main and only thing responsible for terror attacks."

Global Elites against the People

The question now is: have our leaders decided to cope with the real
problems of the real people? In other words, are they motivated enough
to throw the human rights ideology overboard, restore secularism in
society and fight Islamists? The problem is that they do not even seem
to understand the problem. What Peggy Noonan, of the Wall Street Journal,wrote about Angela Merkel can apply to all leaders of European countries:

"Ms. Merkel had put the entire burden of a huge cultural
change not on herself and those like her but on regular people who live
closer to the edge, who do not have the resources to meet the burden,
who have no particular protection or money or connections. Ms. Merkel,
her cabinet and government, the media and cultural apparatus that lauded
her decision were not in the least affected by it and likely never
would be.Nothing in their lives will get worse. The challenge of integrating
different cultures, negotiating daily tensions, dealing with crime and
extremism and fearfulness on the street — that was put on those with
comparatively little, whom I've called the unprotected. They were left
to struggle, not gradually and over the years but suddenly and in an air
of ongoing crisis that shows no signs of ending — because nobody cares
about them enough to stop it.The powerful show no particular sign of worrying about any of this.
When the working and middle class pushed back in shocked indignation,
the people on top called them "xenophobic," "narrow-minded," "racist."
The detached, who made the decisions and bore none of the costs, got to
be called "humanist," "compassionate," and "hero of human rights."

So the fight against Islamism might first consist of a fight against the caste that governs us.

Yves Mamou, based in France, worked for two decades as a journalist for Le Monde.Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8941/france-human-rights Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Prior to discovering his Jewish roots, Csanad Szegedi was known for his extremist positions and antisemitic statements as a member of the Jobbik party.

Csanád Szegedi.
(photo credit:Courtesy)

A one-time MP for Hungary's extremist right-wing
and antisemitic Jobbik party, who quit when he discovered he was
Jewish, is now making aliya to Israel.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post's Hebrew language sister newspaper, Ma'ariv,
Csanad Szegedi said that he is waiting with bated breath for the moment
that he becomes an Israeli citizen and can contribute from his wide
experience to the fight against international antisemitism.Szegedi, 34, revealed his intention to make aliya with his wife
and two children at a World Zionist Organization conference that took
place in Budapest over the weekend.

Prior to discovering his
Jewish roots, Szegedi was known for his extremist positions and
antisemitic statements as a member of Jobbik. He was one of the founders
of the Hungarian Guard, an extreme nationalist group whose members don
black uniforms and see themselves as the descendants of the Hungary's
fascist Arrow Cross Party, which collaborated with the Nazis during
World War II. Szegedi rose in the ranks of Jobbik through the years,
becoming a senior member and even serving as the party's vice president
until 2012, and as the party's representative to the European
Parliament.

In June 2012, Szegedi stunned Hungary, particularly
his fellow Jobbik members, when he revealed that his grandparents on his
mother's side were Jewish. His grandmother survived Auschwitz and his
grandfather was in forced-labor camps. Szegedi began to learn about
Judaism, to observe the Sabbath, to keep kosher and to go to synagogue.
He has since had the opportunity to visit Israel.

After
discovering his roots, he quit all of his posts in Jobbik, which
distanced itself from him, claiming that the reason for his leaving was
not his Jewishness, but rather a corruption scandal. Since undergoing
the transformation, he has become an activist against antisemitism in
Europe as a whole, and in Hungary in particular. He is now completing
the transformation by making aliya to Israel with his family.

Why did you decide to make aliya and live here with your family?

"Israel
is an amazing country, and I believe that every Jew who lives in the
Diaspora seriously considers making aliya to Israel, at least once in
his life. There are many more positive elements than negative elements
in being a Jew, and the biggest gift for any Jew is the existence of the
State of Israel. After the nightmares that my relatives underwent in
the Holocaust, my family and I very much want to be part of the positive
dream that Israel constitutes for us."
Have you already signed up for aliya?

"I've begun the
aliya process. I submitted the paperwork and am awaiting the approval of
my documents. My family is very supportive."

Does the security situation in Israel deter you?

"No,
not at all. I've visited Israel a number of times in recent years and I
always felt safe. I know that the security in Israel is among the best
in the world."

Where do you want to live in Israel?

"It
is very difficult to make such an important decision because there is
much uncertainty. Of course I have great love for the capital,
Jerusalem, and that is a serious possibility for me, but I would like to
also contribute to the community and strengthen a less central city, so
I'm still thinking about it."
In Hungary you were a member of the Jobbik party. Do you want to be in politics in Israel as well?

"There
is no doubt that I have the political bug. I closely follow politics in
Israel, but I still have not considered joining a specific party. Right
now, I am acting in the arena that I am familiar with, Hungary and
Europe, in order to raise awareness on the issue of antisemitism and to
work for the betterment of Israel, as a sort of compensation for the
past. However, I have a lot of years of experience in politics and I
would be happy to contribute my experience to Zionist organizations in
Israel as well."

Would you like to get closure by serving as a Knesset member in Israel?

"As
I said, I have a lot of political experience and I do not completely
rule out entering politics, but in the initial stage I would like to
continue to focus on my activities against antisemitism in Europe."
What is the first thing you will do when you officially become an Israeli?

"Professionally,
I will immediately look for bodies and organizations with which I can
coordinate in the fight against antisemitism, and I will of course seek
to join the World Zionist Organization's extensive activities in Israel
and abroad. Personally, I will visit Jerusalem and the Western Wall, and
of course, I will go out to eat real Israeli food, falafel and hummus."

WZO
vice chairman-acting chairman Yaakov Hagoel, who organized the
conference in Hungary, welcomed Szegedi's announcement and said that the
WZO will assist his aliya process and help his family's absorption in
Israel.

"Recently, it has been reported that 35% of the Hungarian
population is antisemitic," Hagoel said. "This should turn on a red
light for the Jewish community in Hungary and for all Diaspora Jews. In
light of the grave nature of the situation in Hungary, there is no doubt
that the story of Szegedi, who took an active part in incitement
against Israel from within the Hungarian Parliament and now actively
promotes its image to the world, serves as an inspiration."Arik BenderSource: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Former-antisemitic-Hungarian-MP-who-discovered-Jewish-roots-to-make-aliya-468386 Follow Middle East and Terrorism on TwitterCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.